Assessment is a tricky situation, especially in the current test driven environment. So much standardized testing is required of our students that it is really difficult to think about assessment correctly. I have always approached my instruction through backwards design. What are my goals? What do I want my students to be able to do (standards)? I then design my assessment from those expectations. My instruction is then designed around helping students gain the skills necessary to be successful with the assessment.
Although I think test designers believe they are using similar philosophies with test creation, I do not think that is the case. Sure, they are developed with the standards in mind, but because of the board ‘one-size fits all’ nature of these tests, they do not achieve the goal. In the end, the tests force teachers to teach to these high stakes assessments. Students are learning how to take a test as oppose to the skills that the test is attempting to assess. The test then somehow becomes more important than the learning.
I believe in authentic assessment. I feel that students need the opportunity to demonstrate their learning and understanding in different ways along with being able to continue their learning through the assessment process. Learning should never stop. The ‘test’ should not be the place where students just vomit up the information that they have memorized. The assessment should be an opportunity to create and demonstrate how the content or material affects their lives or how they connect to the material. Project-based learning is one of my primary forms of assessment. The creation of a product gives students many ways to show their understanding of the concepts and skills that you are trying to teach. It also gives them the opportunity to demonstrate those skills in different ways and at different levels.
I also subscribe to the use of portfolios, especially in writing instruction. Assessment cannot be the end point of learning. I think that students feel if they do not pass a test, then they just move on and do better next time. The problem with this idea is that the failing test communicates that they do not have a grasp of the material and that they do not need to move on, but rather spend more time with those skills. Portfolios allow for this time for reflection and growth. Through the portfolio process, students must reflect about the process along with targeting weakness and growing from them.
I agree with your comment about bringing up information that has been memorized for the test, and how some students fail tests because they are still learning the material. It would seem that if the educational system is going to a "memorize and regurgitate" standard, then we will eventually have a lot of adults around with good short-term memory skills but little actual knowledge to apply Authentic assessment and applied projects such as portfolios should be the norm if the idea of education is to prepare students for the future.
ReplyDeleteYour reflections are very similar to mine when it comes to assessment. I agree with you when it comes to keeping in mind goals, expectations and final products when assessing students. I also to not trust fully tests because students not only have to master the subject content, but also the test structure (and sometimes we take for granted that students are already familiar with them and master them). I personally think every student has his/her own pace in learning, in organizing their information in their long-term memory and even in retrieving and expressing it what they learned. Some students express themselves with visuals, some prefer speaking, some writing and so on. Therefore, a unique test that uses only one mode of communication and assesses students only once, in my point of view, is not an effective way to assess someone's learning process.
ReplyDeleteYou are doing everything right. I have always been instructed to do the backwards design. Do you every utilize pretests? It may cut down on what is needed or at the least allow the formation of groups for differentiation. I also agree about the vomit tests, I think that the tests should be more application of information. What is more important for the student. the memorization of facts or being able to apply the knowledge to everyday tasks?
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